THE recent killing of eleven Pakistani soldiers
at Gora Prai by American and Nato forces across
the border in Afghanistan unleashed an amazing
storm.

Prime Minister Gilani declared, "We will take a
stand for sovereignty, integrity and
self-respect." The military announced defiantly,
"We reserve the right to protect our citizens and
soldiers against aggression," while Army chief,
Gen Pervez Ashfaq Kayani, called the attack
'cowardly'. The dead became 'shaheeds' and large
numbers of people turned up to pray at their
funerals.

But had the killers been the Taliban, this would
have been a non-event. The storm we saw was more
about cause than consequence. Protecting the
sovereignty of the state, self-respect, citizens
and soldiers against aggression, and the lives of
Pakistani soldiers, suddenly all acquired value
because the killers were American and Nato troops.

Compare the response to Gora Prai with the near
silence about the recent kidnapping and slaughter
by Baitullah Mehsud's fighters of 28 men near
Tank, some of whom were shot and others had their
throats cut. Even this pales before the hundred
or more attacks by suicide bombers over the last
year that made bloody carnage of soldiers and
officers, devastated peace jirgas and public
rallies, and killed hundreds praying in mosques
and at funerals.

These murders were largely ignored or, when
noted, simply shrugged off. The very different
reactions to the casualties of American and Nato
violence, compared to those inflicted by the
Taliban, reflect a desperate confusion about what
is happening in Pakistan and how to respond.

Some newspaper and television commentators want
Pakistan to withdraw from the American-led war on
Al Qaeda and the Taliban, to stop US fuel and
ammunition supplies into Afghanistan, and hit
hard against Afghan troops when provoked. One
far-right commentator even urges turning our guns
against the Americans and Nato, darkly hinting
that Pakistan is a nuclear power.

There is, of course, reason for people in
Pakistan and across the world to feel negatively
about America. In pursuit of its self-interest,
wealth and security, the United States has for
decades waged illegal wars, bribed, bullied and
overthrown governments, supported tyrants,
undermined movements for progressive change, and
now feels free to kidnap, torture, imprison, and
kill anywhere in the world with impunity. All
this, while talking about supporting democracy
and human rights.

Even Americans - or at least the fair-minded ones
among them - admit that there is a genuine
problem. A June 2008 report of the US House
Committee on Foreign Affairs entitled The Decline
in America's Reputation: Why? concluded that
contemporary anti-Americanism stemmed from "the
perception that the proclaimed American values of
democracy, human rights, tolerance, and the rule
of law have been selectively ignored by
successive administrations when American security
or economic considerations are in play".

American hypocrisy has played into the hands of
Islamic militants. They have been vigorously
promoting the notion that this is a bipolar
conflict of Islam, which they claim to represent,
versus imperialism. Many Pakistanis, who
desperately want someone to stand up to the
Americans, buy into this.

This is a fatal mistake. The militants are using
America as a smokescreen for their real agenda.
Created by poverty, a war-culture, and the
macabre manipulations of Pakistan's intelligence
services, the militants want more than just to
fight an aggressor from across the oceans. Their
goal is to establish their writ over that of the
Pakistani state. For this, they have been
attacking and killing people in Pakistan through
the 1990s, well before 9/11. Remember also that
the 4,000-plus victims of jihad in Pakistan over
the last year have been Muslims with no
connection at all to America. In fact, the
Taliban are waging an armed struggle to remake
society. They will keep fighting this war even if
America were to miraculously evaporate into space.

A Taliban victory would transport us into the
darkest of dark ages. These fanatics dream of
transforming the country into a religious state
where they will be the law. They stone women to
death, cut off limbs, kill doctors for
administering polio shots, force girl-children
into burqa, threaten beard-shaving barbers with
death, blow up girls schools at a current average
of two per week, forbid music, punish musicians,
destroy 2000-year statues. Even flying kites is a
life-threatening sin.

The Taliban agenda has no place for social
justice and economic development. There is
silence from Taliban leaders about poverty, and
the need to create jobs for the unemployed,
building homes, providing education, land reform,
or doing away with feudalism and tribalism. They
see no need for worldly things like roads,
hospitals and infrastructure.

If the militants of Pakistan ever win it is clear
what our future will be like. Education, bad as
it is today, would at best be replaced by the
mind-numbing indoctrination of the madressahs
whose gift to society would be an army of suicide
bombers. In a society policed by vice-and-virtue
squads, music, art, drama, and cultural
expressions would disappear. Pakistan would
re-tribalise and resemble a cross between Fata
and Saudi Arabia (minus the oil).

Pakistanis tolerate these narrow-minded,
unforgiving men because they claim to fight for
Islam. But the Baitullahs and Fazlullahs know
nothing of the diversity, and creative richness
of Muslims, whether today or in the past.
Intellectual freedom led to science,
architecture, medicine, arts and crafts, and
literature that were the hallmark of Islamic
civilisation in its golden age. They grew because
of an open-minded, tolerant, cosmopolitan, and
multi-cultural character. Caliphs, such as
Haroon-al-Rashid and Al-Mamoun, brought together
scholars of diverse faiths and helped establish a
flourishing culture. Today's self-declared
amir-ul-momineen, like Mullah Omar, would gladly
behead great Islamic scholars like Ibn Sina and
Al-Razi for heresy and burn their books.

Pakistan must find the will to fight the Taliban.
The state, at both the national and provincial
level, must assert its responsibility to protect
life and law rather than simply make deals. State
functionaries, and even the khasadars, have
disappeared from much of the tribal areas.
Pakistan is an Islamic state falling into anarchy
and chaos, being rapidly destroyed from within by
those who claim to fight for Islam.

Pakistanis must not be deceived. This is no clash
of civilisations. To the Americans, Pakistan is
an instrument to be used for their strategic
ends. It is necessary and possible to say no. But
the Taliban seek to capture and bind the soul and
future of Pakistan in the dark prison fashioned
by their ignorance. As they now set their sights
on Peshawar and beyond, they must be resisted by
all possible means, including adequate military
force.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

o o o

(ii)

The News,
June 29, 2008

RIPPLE EFFECT

Appeasing the militants

by Omar R. Quraishi

Both the federal and the NWFP government's
strategy -- if there indeed is one -- of fighting
extremism and increasing Talibanisation in the
country is flawed to say the least. Of late,
there has been talk -- and it's been going on for
some time now -- that pro-Taliban militants have
surrounded the capital of NWFP, Peshawar, from
the north, south and west and that it is only a
matter of time before they make their move on to
the city.

This may sound like an alarmist scenario to some
but it is not entirely unexpected to think that
the Pakistani Taliban would stop at expanding
their growing influence from beyond all of FATA
to the settled districts of the NWFP and that
having Peshawar under their control would perhaps
be their crowning glory. If and when such a
doomsday situation happens, the XI corps may be
pressed into action, with an infantry division
based in Peshawar and Mardan and an armoured
brigade at Nowshera.

Signs of the extremists extending their sphere of
influence to the city's district have already
been reported with shopkeepers in the Peshawar's
outlying areas saying that local militants have
come to them and warned them to close down all
shops that sell videos CDs, DVDs and cassettes.
This was followed by the kidnap of several
Christians from a Peshawar neighbourhood,
ostensibly by militants of the Lashkar-e-Islam,
which has been more or less allowed by the
federal government to establish a strong foothold
in Khyber Agency, which straddles Peshawar.

And around the same time that all this was
happening came the depressing news that the town
of Jandola in South Waziristan had fallen to
Baitullah Mehsud's men. This obviously means that
the peace talks between the federal government
and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan are not
delivering, and there is probably good reason for
that -- foremost being the severe reaction from
America and other western allies of Pakistan, all
of whom seem convinced that allowing such deals
only benefits the Taliban and consequently
al-Qaeda and that the next attack on US soil will
probably emanate from these sanctuaries provided
to the militants by the Pakistan government.

Many in the country call this a blatant
interference in Pakistan's internal affairs.
However, even keeping America, NATO and other
western stakeholders aside, is it really in
Pakistan's own interests that extremists and
fanatics clearly bent upon creating their own
Taliban state be given such a free hand in the
country? Have we not seen their misdeeds in
attacking schools and colleges for girls, have we
not seen that through their frequent attacks on
video and music shops, on barbers and in general
on anyone who disagrees with them (he or she is
called a U.S. spy and summarily executed, and the
dead body, usually, thrown on the roadside) that
these people have no problem in using the sword
(and of course the Kalashnikov) to enforce their
literalist and obscurantist interpretation of
religion on everyone else.

As for the NWFP provincial government, it has to
be said that while it may be well-intentioned and
is sincere in wanting peace to return to the
province, surely it needs to re-examine its
approach vis-a-vis the militants in Swat. For
weeks, the district was under curfew and a
military operation was in full swing, which
caused hundreds of deaths and led to many
arrests, with the military then proudly claiming
that the militants had been driven out of the
district, had surrendered or were on the run.

Why, after such success against them, enter into
a deal that allows them precisely the kind of
autonomy and power in their area of influence
which they wanted in the first place? Why give
Maulana Fazlullah the right to have his own radio
station when such a concession is allowed to no
other citizen of Pakistan? Does this mean that
the power of the militants is such that the state
-- not by admission but indeed by its actions --
is willing to capitulate and allow them a degree
of freedom which taken to its logical culmination
may well end up threatening the country's
territorial integrity?

This is, of course, compounded by the fact that
the people of this country are fed a healthy diet
of half-truths and fibs and presented only one
side of the story. For instance, according to a
recent survey conducted in Pakistan while over
half of those surveyed were concerned over the
growing influence of the militants, a mere eight
per cent wanted the government to fight and
eliminate the militants. Compared to this, around
fifty per cent thought that the problems
affecting the country internally were being
caused by America (proof, if ever it was needed,
that we are also the land of the conspiracy
theory).

It is probably these very people who also think
-- like many educated and apparently moderate
people -- that those who died at Lal Masjid were
all 'innocent' done to their deaths by a military
under (who else's) America's influence. Of
course, these people have forgotten the vigilante
actions of the Lal Masjid students, the several
kidnappings and hostage-takings they were
involved in and the routine threats they used to
give to Islamabad's shopkeepers to not sell music
or video products. Of course, 'innocent students'
involve themselves in such things, defy the writ
of the state at will, go around kidnapping people
and summarily trying and convicting them of moral
turpitude -- and that's why the government sees
it fit to not even prosecute them!

Perhaps, the fact that Peshawar is now encircled
on at least three sides by sympathisers and
supporters of the Lal Masjid vigilantes and who
owe their allegiance to the likes of Baitullah
Mehsud, will awaken those Pakistanis who still
are unable to see where the real danger to their
country comes from. And maybe, just maybe, this
will bring them around to repudiating the passive
support, nay sympathy or even admiration, many
ordinary Pakistanis -- brainwashed and
indoctrinated by years of Islamisation and
appeasement of militants by military-led or
military-controlled governments -- have for such
elements.

(New York, June 30, 2008) - Bangladesh's new
counterterrorism ordinance violates fundamental
freedoms and basic fair trial rights and should
be repealed or amended to meet international
standards, Human Rights Watch said today. The
military-backed interim government kept secret
the far-reaching provisions of the new law until
its adoption on June 11, preventing the public
and civil society from commenting on the law's
contents.

The ordinance sets out an overly broad definition
of terrorist acts, including mere property crimes
as well as attacks targeting individuals,
contrary to United Nations recommendations. It
criminalizes speech meant to support or "bolster
the activities of" a banned organization, without
showing that such statements constitute
incitement of criminal conduct. The new law also
allows convictions for financing terrorism based
on mere suspicion of criminal conduct, violating
the basic criminal law requirement of proving
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Bangladesh needs fair and effective laws to
combat terrorism," said Brad Adams, Asia director
at Human Rights Watch. "But, as we've seen in
countries around the world, bad counterterror
laws drafted in secret lead to abuses and a loss
of public support for legitimate counterterror
efforts."

Among the new counterterrorism law's worrying provisions are:

* The law's definition of terrorist acts is
overly broad. Besides violent acts and
kidnapping, acts that cause "damage to any
property of any person" may be deemed terrorist
under the law if they are carried out for a
specified purpose. As the UN Special Rapporteur
on Counterterrorism and Human Rights has
explained, the concept of terrorism should be
limited to acts committed with the intention of
causing death or serious bodily injury, or the
taking of hostages, and not property crimes.

* The law provides that a person may be held
criminally liable for financing terrorism if that
person is involved in financial transactions for
which there is merely a "reasonable suspicion"
that the money will be used to fund a terrorist
act.

* The law allows an organization to be banned
as terrorist because it has "cooperated" with
another organization deemed terrorist. Moreover,
the government may ban an organization as
terrorist based simply on "reasonable
allegations" of involvement in terrorist
activities.

* The law criminalizes speech meant to
support or "bolster the activities of" a banned
organization, without any showing that such
statements constitute incitement of criminal
conduct. To comply with international protections
on freedom of expression, laws should only allow
for the criminal prosecution of direct incitement
to terrorism - that is, speech that directly
encourages the commission of a crime, is intended
to result in criminal action, and is likely to
result in criminal action.

* The law allows the imposition of the death
penalty for certain offenses that cannot be
considered among the "most serious crimes," as
required by international law. Human Rights Watch
opposes the death penalty in all circumstances
because it is inherently cruel and irrevocable.

"The ordinance sweeps far too broadly, disregards
normal standards of proof, and establishes harsh
penalties for anyone who publicly expresses
support for a banned organization," Adams said.
"It is also deeply regrettable, in a country
where serious problems have been identified in
due process of law, such as the use of torture to
gain convictions, that the ordinance allows the
death penalty."

The Bangladesh government has been under pressure
by its international supporters to adopt
counterterror legislation. Human Rights Watch
urged the United Kingdom and United States and
others not to push Bangladesh into adopting laws
that violate basic rights or to adopt them
without adequate public consultation. The
government should ensure that civil society and
the public are given a fair opportunity to review
and comment on any future counterterrorism
legislation.

"It's shocking that such an important law could
be enacted in the shadows, without public input -
particularly by a government that says it is in
power to reform the political system," Adams said.

______

[3] INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE'S TRIBUNAL ON HUMAN
RIGHTS AND JUSTICE IN INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR
UNDER ATTACK

(i)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY
Srinagar, Tuesday, 1 July 2008

From: International People's Tribunal on Human
Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir

On Monday, June 30, the state forces attempted to
assassinate Advocate Parvez Imroz, co-convener of
the International People's Tribunal on Human
Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir
(http://www.kashmirprocess.org). His statement is
included below.

Advocate Imroz is co-founder of the Jammu &
Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and
the Association for Parents of Disappeared
Persons (APDP). He is a distinguished human
rights lawyer and recipient of the
Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize
of 2006.

Advocate Mihir Desai, Legal Counsel for the
Tribunal, said: "This reflects the legal and
political impunity under which the CRPF and the
SOG operate in the state".

Dr. Angana Chatterji, Tribunal co-convener, said:
"The attempt to assassinate Advocate Imroz is
cowardly and brutal. This act of the police
displays the arrogance and the state of exception
in place in Indian-administered Kashmir. This
attack is an attempt to halt the International
People's Tribunal from continuing its work. Our
findings on the mass graves earlier and last
week, and the state's attempts to intimidate and
threaten us, evidence the Government of India's
abject disregard for justice".

Last week the Tribunal's investigation into mass
graves and nameless in Baramulla and Kupwara led
to the targeting and harassment of co-conveners
Dr. Angana Chatterji and Advocate Imroz, and
Tribunal crew. The surveillance by intelligence
personnel has escalated: Mr. Khurram Parvez,
Tribunal Liaison, has been previously targeted
and remains under surveillance, and Dr. Chatterji
was again harassed by intelligence and police on
June 30 while conducting Tribunal work. Dr.
Chatterji, Advocate Imroz, Advocate Desai, and
Mr. Parvez and other members of Tribunal met with
families who narrated that their sons had been
killed by the police in the violence of last
week. The Tribunal conducted its work in
curfew-like conditions as Srinagar and various
parts of Kashmir remains extremely volatile
following last week's events.

This latest attack is an escalation in the forms
of state-led intimidation, harassment, and
assault aimed at the Tribunal. The attack on
Advocate Imroz attempts to make vulnerable the
Tribunal and to instil fear in other Tribunal
members in an attempt to stop this process. The
Tribunal Conveners, Angana Chatterji, Parvez
Imroz, Gautam Navlakha, Zaheer-Ud-Din, the
Tribunal Legal Counsel, Mihir Desai, and Tribunal
Liaison, Khurram Parvez, remain committed to the
work on justice and human rights in
Indian-administered Kashmir.

On 30 June 2008, at 10.10 pm, when Parvez Imroz
and his family was about to retire for the
evening, Roksana, his wife informed him that
there was a knock at the front door. She was
extremely afraid, given the two prior
assassination attempts on Advocate Imroz's life.
She and Advocate Imroz asked 'Who are you?' to
those at the front door. They responded
aggressively, asking Advocate Imroz by name to
open the door. Advocate Imroz was apprehensive
after the intimidation of the Tribunal last week
when it was undertaking a fact-finding on mass
graves in Baramulla and Kupwara. He went to
another room at the back of the house and shouted
across to his brother, Sheik Mustaq Ahmad, who
lived next door. Mr. Ahmad shined a torch at
Advocate Imroz's door and asked the persons at
the front door to identify themselves. The
persons knocking at the door very aggressively
asked Mr. Ahmad to shut off the torch. Meanwhile,
Advocate Imroz's nephew came out of Mr. Ahmad's
house and ran toward Advocate Imroz's house,
fearful, as he stated later, that Advocate Imroz
was being taken by the army.

Then, the perpetrators fired one shot in the
dark, and it appeared that shot was fired in the
direction that Advocate Imroz's nephew was coming
from. The lights down the path had been broken.

After seconds, the perpetrators threw a grenade
in Advocate Imroz's compound outside his front
door, which exploded into a fireball. They also
threw a tear gas and fired two blank shots while
leaving. The perpetrators left at around
approximately 10.30 pm. On the way, the
perpetrators beat one male neighbour.

Meanwhile, community members had made an
announcement from the village mosque, and people
had gathered down the path. The villagers also
stated that they had seen one large armoured
vehicle and two Gypsy cars, and men in CRPF
(Central Reserve Police Force) uniform and SOG
(Special Operations Group) uniform.

[Note: Advocate Imroz's home is located in
Kralpura village approximately 8 kilometres from
Srinagar.]

o o

(ii)

IKV Pax Christi

The Netherlands / Utrecht, 1 July
2008

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY

IKV Pax Christi expresses its deep concern and
shock about the attempt, in the night of June
30th 2008, to assassinate Advocate Parvez Imroz,
distinguished human rights lawyer and co-founder
of the Jammu & Kashmir Coalition of Civil
Society (JKCCS) and the Association for Parents
of Disappeared Persons (APDP) based in
Srinagar, capital city of Indian-administered
Kashmir.

An attack apparently carried out by state actors
c.q. men in CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force)
uniform and SOG (Special Operations Group)
uniform, who brutally targetted Imroz and his
family in their residence.

As Dutch National Peace Movement
(www.ikvpaxchristi.nl) we work in international
partnership with Advocate Imroz cum suis since
over seven years and highly respect the
courageous work done and the persistence to fight
against humanrights violations and impunity in
the conflict ridden society of Kashmir, against
all odds.

As co-convener of the International People's
Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in
Indian-administered Kashmir
(http://www.kashmirprocess.org), Imroz took up
the task to investigate facts and figures on
humanrightsviolations in a process of coming to
truth and justice.

Advocate Imroz was awarded the Ludovic-Trarieux
International Human Rights Prize in 2006. As
European civil society and international
partners, we honoured him and all the members of
his organisation for this international
recognition.

It is very unfortunate that in Kashmir and India,
authorities fail to understand the importance of
his work and his contribution to come to justice
and true democracy in Kashmir. It is of great
concern and clearly unacceptable that he, on the
contrary, is harassed and has to fear for his
life.

IKV Pax Christi declares its solidarity with
Imroz and those who cooperate with him in a non
violent struggle for truth and justice, for
recognition of people's basic human rights and
for enlarging the role of independent civil
society as an actor in creating a future in
freedom and democracy.

We appeal global civil society to likewise
express their solidarity to Advocate Imroz and
family, will urge international diplomatic and
political actors to appeal for protection of
humanrights defenders like Imroz c.s. and
address state authorities in Delhi and Srinagar
to seek accountability.

Individual and Groups from around the world are
requested to write faxs and e-mails to the Indian
Authorities to protest against intimidation,
harassment of the People's Tribunal on Human
Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir

FRIDAYS incident of wanton violence in Margao is
enough for any Goan to hang his head in shame.
The manner in which some miscreants tried to
exploit the case of an eve teasing for furthering
their politico-religious gains is indeed
deplorable. This was not the first time Margao
has witnessed communal tension. Last year too,
Margao witnessed a similar situation on the issue
of alleged misbehaviour with a woman by a shop
owner. In both the incidents no caste or religion
was involved. But the religious bigots who have
been waiting in wings to spread communal hatred
were quick to grab the opportunity and indulge in
arson and violence.

Goa is no more immune to the communal divide and
none else but the Goans are to be blamed for
this. Ever since the Curchoerem-Sanvordem
incident when a masjid was attacked and damaged
by some miscreants in 2006, communalism has
raised its ugly head in one form or the other.
What is ironical is that this communal divide is
more prominent in south Goa, which has a
comparative cosmopolitan image: The people are
literate and the region is economically advanced
and comparatively developed.

In fact the cosmopolitan character is the perfect
fodder for the communal forces. They are aware
that people of these areas are more vulnerable.
This is the reason that these forces indulge in
reckless violence. What happened in Goa, hurling
petrol bomb on Hospicio hospital, setting on fire
the motorcycle at Calmati and indiscriminate
stone throwing, are manifestations of this
psyche. The criminals resorted to tried and
trusted mechanisms to coerce and terrorise the
common people.

It would not be exaggeration to blame the
political parties and politicians for creating
this situation. Their sustained harping on
'outsiders' and 'migrants' has simply divided the
society and strengthened the element of mistrust
and hatred. If a migrant has turned suspect in
the eyes of the local people, he too has become
suspect in the eyes of the migrants. This
situation would certainly not augur well for Goa.
For achieving their narrow political gains these
people have simply been trying to polarise the
society.

There is little doubt that Friday's incident was
blown out of proportion by elements who have been
thriving on such issues. It was merely an eve
teasing case and the person who had committed the
offence could very well have been arrested. But
unfortunately, religious bigots used the
opportunity to deliver provocative speeches and
were also found to be planning to assault some
persons.

In this scenario, the fight against crime and
criminals has been put on a back burner. The
sufferer is the common people, and in broader
frame, the humanity. The government has to act
tough against such elements that are out to
destroy the social and communal harmony on the
plea of fighting the migrants. Instead of
becoming captive to such slogans, the government
should have a pragmatic look. A violent act does
not discriminate between a native and a migrant.
For it both are soft targets. The government
ought not forget that everywhere these forces
have been using such jargons and cliche to
survive and thrive. What is happening in Goa is
no an exception. This is the part of greater
mechanism of the communal forces.

______

[5]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 1, 2008

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice,

It has come to our attention that the Chief
Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi is once
again planning to apply for a visa to enter the
United States. We urge the State Department not
to allow Mr. Modi to enter the country under any
conditions, as the circumstances under which he
was denied a visa in 2005 remain largely
unchanged, and the minority communities in his
state continue to face systematic human rights
violations.

The United States should not unwittingly be the
platform from which these unrepentant and yet
ascendant forces in India exploit the opportunity
to rally the support base among Indian Diaspora
communities and raise international legitimacy
and standing. It would be dangerous at this
juncture of Indian political process to give Mr.
Modi that long denied and therefore much coveted
window.

Not only was Mr. Modi responsible for the deaths
of over 2,000 Muslims and the displacement of
200,000 more, but six years after the
Gujarat-state sponsored violence, the Muslim
community in Gujarat is subjected to a
devastating economic and social boycott,
institutionalized at every level. Most have
received little, if no compensation for the
deaths of loved ones and loss of property;
thousands are still displaced, without homes,
work, or access to decent schools for their
children. At the level of the courts too, Muslims
in Gujarat have received little justice, barring
a few exceptions; and the few that have managed
to push their cases forward have met with
threats, physical harm and harassment.

As recently as April 2008, Mr. Modi enacted the
anti-conversion law in Gujarat that effectively
bars religious conversions, thereby crippling the
provisions of religious freedom in the state.

In a recent expose by the investigative magazine
Tehelka, the Gujarat state prosecutor appointed
by Mr. Modi was captured on video confessing to
protecting the perpetrators of the 2002 violence.
Further, one of the accused involved in the
killings, confessed to Mr. Modi having
transferred several court judges as to protect
him from any convictions.

Noting the prejudice extending at every level of
the state apparatus, the Supreme Court ordered
cases related to the 2002 massacres to be moved
out of Gujarat.

Mr. Modi has not only expressed no remorse for
the 2002 violence; but he has continued to
justify them, as he has a spate of extra judicial
killings (fake "encounter killings") by his
police. And, the state continues to persecute
civil society groups who have been trying to
speak up for the victims under very difficult
circumstances.

The Coalition Against Genocide includes a diverse
spectrum of organizations associated with Indian
Americans that have come together in response to
the Gujarat Genocide to demand justice and
accountability. This letter has been endorsed by
the following constituent organizations of the
Coalition Against Genocide:

Five years on - the bitter and uphill struggle for justice in Gujarat
Amnesty International Report, published on March 2007, 19 pages.
http://amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA20/007/2007/en/dom-ASA200072007en.pdf

India: A pattern of unlawful killings by the Gujarat police
Amnesty International Briefing, published on May 24, 2007, 15 pages.
http://amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA20/011/2007/en/dom-ASA200112007en.pdf

Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing significant
tensions - both religious and regional - over the
allotment of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji
Shrine Board, which is headed by the governor of
the state.

A range of parties - separatist and mainstream -
the Bar Association, the Chamber of Commerce and
Industry and civil society groups have joined in
protest against the transfer of land and the
issue has inevitably taken a violent turn.

To be sure, the transfer of land was not the sole
cause of sharpening the divide between the two
principal regions of the state. A simmering
discontent, due to a number of factors, has just
come to the fore.

In a way, militancy provided an outlet for those
aggrieved by a sense of alienation in the Valley.
Its decline in recent years, the uncertain policy
of the new civilian government in Pakistan on
Kashmir and its recognition of the mainstream
leaders of the Valley - Omar Abdullah and
Mehbooba Mufti, the presidents of the National
Conference and PDP respectively - has eroded the
political space for separatist groups to some
extent.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who leads the largest
conglomeration of separatist parties was a
staunch supporter of President Pervez Musharraf
and his admiration for the Pakistan president
continues even after the defeat of pro-Musharraf
parties in Pakistan's general elections.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani who represents the rival
and extremist group, the Hurriyat Conference, was
a persona non grata in Pakistan's previous regime
and continues to be so even after the change of
guard there.

He found a godsend opportunity on the issue of
transfer of government land to the Amarnath board.

He set up a broad-based committee called Action
Committee Against Land Transfer headed by the
former president of the Kashmir Bar Association.

Though the Mirwaiz faction is trying to mend its
fences with the new Pakistan government, it feels
neglected by the government of India.

It therefore un-conditionally joined the
Geelani-sponsored committee. The mainstream
parties, not be left behind, have been more vocal.

While the fears expressed by the extremists that
the move was motivated to settle Hindus from
outside the state on the land acquired by the
board - in order to reduce Kashmiri Muslims to a
minority - are certainly far-fetched, there is no
denying that the government has bungled the issue.

It took about three years for the government to
finalise the deal in May after prolonged
deliberations at various levels.

It did not clarify its position till the popular
protest against the land deal mounted in the
Valley. Even then the defence of the deal was
mainly left to the governor and his secretary and
the CEO of the board, Arun Kumar.

As both of them were outsiders and the latter
reportedly said that the land in question was
purchased permanently by the board on a payment
of Rs 2.5 crore, sentiments were further
infuriated in the Valley.

Late in the day, deputy chief minister and PDP
leader Muzaffar Baig tried to exonerate his party
by saying that it was blackmailed by the Congress
to support the land deal under the threat that it
would otherwise stop construction of the Mughal
Road which connects the Muslim majority part of
Jammu region viz Rajouri and Poonch with Kashmir.

It brings no credit to either of the coalition
partners. It was as bad for the Congress if it
did use blackmail as for the PDP to be
blackmailed.

The concerned secretary had pointed out in his
note that the Supreme Court had decreed against
transfer of forest land to anybody without its
permission.

But the law minister overrode the objection on
the ground that the particular Act under which
the apex court passed the order did not apply to
the state under Article 370.

The forest minister thereupon passed the transfer
order. The chief minister released a nine-page
explanation about the entire problem as late as
on June 15.

He clarified that the land has not been sold and
its use for providing shelter and toilet
facilities to pilgrims was limited to the yatra
period and no permanent structure is to be
constructed on it.

In fact, as the new governor stated, the land has
neither been transferred nor has the board made
the payment. But it was too late to placate the
angry protesters and political parties have
demanded the complete revocation of the land deal.

Meanwhile, the passions of Hindus in Jammu are
equally inflamed. The sangh parivar is being
supported by the BSP and the Panthers Party in
condemning the agitation in the Valley as
anti-national.

There have been demonstrations, traffic blockades
and bandhs. The BJP even threatened to block
supplies to the Valley. Governor N N Vohra has
communicated to the government that the shrine
board does not need the land.

While it should help in defusing the situation in
the Valley, the government will have to contend
with the adverse reaction of Hindus in the state.

But above all, the real challenge that the
situation poses to all political parties - in
particular those claiming to be secular - is the
restoration of regional and religious harmony in
the state.

NEW DELHI, June 29 -- Waving rainbow flags and
chanting "Gay India does exist," nearly 1,000 gay
activists and their supporters marched in
coordinated parades in three Indian cities
Sunday, demonstrating their growing confidence
and hope for change on a subcontinent where
homosexuality is illegal.

Activists in New Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata
called the parades the largest display of gay
pride in India's modern history. They said the
public rallies would have been impossible just a
decade ago in this largely conservative nation,
where marriage is seen as an important societal
duty.

"Today a celebratory march occurred," said
Pramada Menon, 42, a human rights activist who
deals with sexuality issues. "I am excited that
globalization has made sexual orientation a
celebration. Today, we are ready to walk without
masks."

The Indian Penal Code contains a colonial-era
provision known as Section 377, which prohibits
sexual activity that is "against the order of
nature." The statute carries punishment of up to
10 years in prison.

The law has been repealed in other former British
colonies. Human rights groups, in a challenge at
the Delhi High Court, are asking the judges to
declare that India's law does not apply to
consenting adults. The court is set to hear
arguments this week.
ad_icon

"In India, gays and lesbians still live highly
closeted lives," said Vikram Doctor, 40, a member
of the Queer Media Collective. "There is still
violence. There are still many desperate suicides
by gay couples. There is still harassment. And
there is still intense pressure to marry those
they do not want to be with. But today we have a
voice. This march has taken on a momentum of its
own."

Section 377 has been widely used to blackmail
gays in highly organized rackets, according to
Doctor and other activists. Marriage in India is
highly valued and is sometimes a lucrative
business arrangement between families.

"I wish to tell people, the judiciary and the
government that gays do exist," said Alok Gupta,
28, a lawyer who focuses on gay rights.

In India's capital, New Delhi, the parade was
more a celebration than a protest. Festive
drumming filled the hazy air as marchers unfurled
banners that read "Queer Dilliwalla," or resident
of Delhi, and "377 Quit India."

Wearing a T-shirt that said "Stonewalled," with
an image of a famous ancient Indian sculpture of
two women embracing, Giti Thadani, 47, a member
of Sakhi, an organization for lesbians, said she
remembered when the first openly gay organization
formed in the mid-1980s. It had just four members.

"Then it was very difficult," she said. "Today,
young Indians are economically independent --
they have access to information and they have
their own sexual preferences. They don't always
want to be married off at a young age. This
parade is a sign of modernity."

Lesley Esteves, 32, one of the main organizers of
the event, said the day was "a tangible sign of
progress," but added: "The road is still long.
The battle is far from over."

India's conservative Hindu nationalist party, the
Bharatiya Janata Party, has openly disagreed with
the movement, calling it "un-Indian and against
families." But leaders said they did not wish to
protest the parades, so as not to give more
attention to the issue.

______

[8]

Inter Junction
June 18, 2008

'MAOIST REBELS ARE MIRRORS OF OUR OWN FAILINGS AS A NATION'

Sudeep Chakravarti is a writer, practicing
futurist, and media consultant based in Goa,
India. A former career journalist, Sudeep was
Executive Editor with the India Today Group, and
Consultant Editor for the Hindustan Times. Widely
published in journals on economic policy,
geopolitical affairs, and human interest issues,
Sudeep is the editor of The Other India (Books
Today, 2000) and co-editor of The Peace Dividend:
Progress for India and South Asia (Lotus Roli,
2004).

Sudeep is also the author of the critically
acclaimed and popular novel Tin Fish (Penguin,
2005) and the recently published Red Sun: Travels
in Naxalite Country (Viking/Penguin, 2008), a
work of narrative non-fiction about India's
present-day Maoist rebellion. His second novel,
Once Upon a Time in Aparanta (Penguin, 2008),
will be published in August this year.

In an email interview with Rohit Chopra about Red
Sun, Sudeep describes the failings of the Indian
state and society that have engendered and
sustained Maoist rebellion, the massive denial
about the issue, and why prosperous 'middle
India' needs to be shaken out of its mall-stupor
and awakened to the reality of the situation.

What made you write this book? Why did you feel this story had to be told?

I have spent my career as a journalist, both as
reporter and editor, tracking India's economic
development, meeting those on the "street", as
well as top ministers, entrepreneurs, and
executives from India and abroad; and attending
summits from Delhi to Davos. I am a direct
beneficiary of India's ongoing economic
liberalization and freedom of expression that
India's urban middle classes have come to take
for granted. But there is an issue I did not wish
to keep quiet about. Except for perhaps a 'unity'
based on the rupee, corruption, cinema, and
cricket, there is a grave disconnect between
urban and rural India and even within urban
India. This disconnect is economic, social, and
political. Seventy percent of India is away from
the 'growth party'. To imagine that India can be
unstoppable with its gross poverty and numbing
caste issues is to be in lunatic denial, a
display of unstoppable ego.

Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country was a story
waiting to be told. There is a fairly large and
excellent body of non-fiction writing on the
Naxal movement of the 1960s and early 1970s and
on various subsequent extreme-Left incarnations
through the 1980s, in several Indian languages
and in English. But besides the occasional media
coverage around the time of major skirmishing
between rebels and security forces, there isn't a
book on the movements of today as driven by the
Communist Party of India (Maoist) that attempts
to demystify the Naxal movement.

The second reason for the book was that there is
a great lack of telling the human story about and
around the present play of Left-wing rebellion.
Typically, one comes by statistics and glib sound
bites. The dispossessed and the dead are not
numbers; they were-and are-people. With Red Sun I
have attempted to humanize a very tragic
conflict, of a country at war with itself.

Minority girls' rights will be low priority while
the terror agenda panders to male community
leaders

by Rahila Gupta

'I can't tell people what is happening at home",
a new report by the NSPCC, draws long overdue
attention to the plight of south Asian children,
not just as victims of violence but as witnesses.
It highlights the cultural context - isolation,
fear of racism, language barriers, uncertain
immigration status, cultural and religious
pressures to keep the marriage going - which
means that Asian women on average take 10 years
to leave a violent relationship, thus exposing
their children to substantial psychological and
physical damage.

Once a woman makes that leap, what awaits her are
underfunded, overcrowded Asian women's refuges.
What might stop her accessing even these services
are nervous social workers, police officers and
teachers who are hindered by "political
correctness", says the NSPCC, from intervening in
Asian "cultural practices". This is not new. It
is not so much political correctness but the
ideology of multiculturalism that has given rise
to this situation.

Tolerance of "cultural practices" by state
agencies has been going on since at least the
1980s. Black feminists have campaigned hard
against this aspect of multiculturalism, which
has given unelected community leaders autonomy in
the domestic, cultural and religious affairs of
the community. For a mainstream organisation like
the NSPCC to lend its weight to the issue adds
impetus to the critique.

As a result of campaigning, and the Victoria
Climbié case, there have been substantial shifts
in policy. Guidelines based on the underlying
principle that "multicultural sensitivity is not
an excuse for moral blindness" were drawn up by
the government to enable schools and other
agencies to deal sensitively with issues like
forced marriage. The report rightly identifies
this as a concern for Asian women and girls. As
implementation has been patchy, the government
has finally agreed to put these guidelines on a
statutory basis in the autumn that will allow
NGOs to hold state agencies accountable.

Although the uneven delivery of services is still
an issue, the fact that the NSPCC has highlighted
this as its big conclusion feels curiously
outdated because the debate has changed.
Multiculturalism came under attack in the Cantle
report in 2001 into the race riots in Bradford
and was further discredited in the wake of the
7/7 bombings.

In the government's war against terror, "building
cohesion" has become the new holy grail. Within
this policy construct, single-group funding has
fallen out of favour. Paradoxically, the funding
of Muslim groups continues apace, while secular
groups are being hit. Specialist organisations
catering for those vulnerable groups at the
centre of the NSPCC report are to have their
funding cut. Southall Black Sisters' struggle to
replace the core funding under threat of
withdrawal by Ealing council is one of the most
widely publicised examples of this. The NSPCC
makes a welcome case for the continuing need for
a specialist sector but fails to make the links.

It is this failure that takes the NSPCC report
into dangerous territory, when it calls for the
engagement of faith and community leaders in the
fight against domestic violence. It is precisely
these leaders - who act as gatekeepers to the
community and cry racist when the state
intervenes - who account for the nervousness of
state agencies. The NSPCC organised a conference
aimed at the Muslim community which was attended
by 50 imams. It found unsurprisingly that, "for
some imams, the issue of domestic abuse is not on
their radar". Perhaps the most telling statement
of all was that "many mosques are the premises of
men only". In the teeth of such entrenched
patriarchal attitudes, calling for the training
of imams feels like trying to empty a lake with a
teacup. When the Muslim Parliament of Great
Britain reported on the extent of child abuse in
madrasas in 2006, little action was taken.

In this new political climate, minority girls'
rights are again being sold down the river. The
political correctness the NSPCC highlights is
about to get worse. Commander Steve Allen of the
Metropolitan police, at a recent conference on
domestic violence, said the government's agenda
on terror is hampering police work on issues such
as forced marriage because the government is keen
not to alienate those same leaders in the fight
against extremism. Perhaps we need the kind of
research that demonstrates how children exposed
to violence develop a tendency to extremism as
adults before the government will show greater
commitment to minority women.

· Rahila Gupta is a founder of Southall Black
Sisters and author of Enslaved: The New British
Slavery

Last Thursday, June 19th, a young woman
photographer from Nagaland was kept from entering
a Delhi lounge bar, Urban Pind, on their expat
night, because she was from the Northeast. Her
friends, a German professional and a south Indian
editor, were allowed in, and others
poured in, and the management, after seeing the
Naga woman's face, said she wasn't 'of the right
profile' and demanded to know which country she
was from. The woman has sent Urban Pind a legal
notice, and since then, the management has tried
to deny charges. On national television, the
owner of Urban Pind, Mr Farooq, admitted he has
made a mistake, but is still refusing to contact
the girl's lawyers or make a public apology, as
per the legal notice.

This is just one of other incidents at Urban Pind
and other bars, lounges etc in Delhi. One of many
incidents of discrimination against people from
the Northeast - and indeed those of all non
'Indian' colours and ethnicities. This incident
has sparked a wave of outrage nation wide, as
well as an outpouring of frustration from people
who have until this moment been unable to speak
up.

We, those who stand up against racial
discrimination in India, are planning to organise
a peaceful protest outside Urban Pind, this
Thursday, July 3rd, starting 8 pm.

Please spread the word and let us know if you
would like to be a part of this protest.We are so
encouraged by everyone's support, and count on
you to join us this Thursday. We would be glad
any suggestions or assistance in planning the
protest, please mail us with your
feedback. Let's all stand up and fight the good fight.

Full details are available on the links to media
coverage below, on the Facebook group 'Boycott
Urban Pind' and a blog devoted to the fight
against racial discrimination

No doubt every monsoon brings along with it a new
lease of life and a green glitter. However, it
also brings in a threat and a challenge for
people in the Narmada valley as in the other
river valleys, where the rivers are dammed and
the people and the natural environs are doomed
and drowned. Even after 24 years of struggle, the
adivasis in the Satpudas and Vindhyas and the
farmers, fish workers and others in the Nimad
region of Madhya Pradesh have had to continue to
struggle for their rights. Their battle is also
for the rightful share of dalits, adivasis,
farmers, fish workers and all those who toil with
nature and their own labour, harnessing and
developing the natural resources in the human
society.

This year too, the first phase of the Satyagraha,
on the bank of the river will start on July 11th,
2008 in Chimakhedi, the third village from the
Sardar Sarovar Dam site falling in the Nandurbar
district of Maharashtra. With the best of its
lands and generations-old habitats already gone
under waters since 1994, the young and the old in
Chimalkhedi have been in the battle filed always,
to get the land and abadi needed even to start a
new life. The people in the three states, who
have staked their lives and livelihoods, have
kept the dam at 122 mts and not allowed the State
to bury the communities in a watery-grave. They
would come together in Chimalkhedi, with our
supporters from all over, with a pledge for truth
and determination to face the challenge of rising
waters.

The truth that lies behind the facade of
drum-beating related to the giant dam, stands
exposed when the NBA has dug out massive
corruption in rehabilitation, no compliance on
legally mandatory environmental measures, the
economic and financial non-viability. It has also
brought out the skewed distribution of benefits,
which are not even attained, beyond 10% and are
being diverted to the corporates, the urban
elites at the cost of the needy and the planned
beneficiaries. The dam is not yet permitted to go
beyond 122 mts, to its full height, (138.68 mts),
since the Centre has not permitted erection of 17
mts high gates. The struggle needs to be taken
forward through non-violent yet militant ways to
compel the state to look back and look forward
with the people and take to the just path. The
Satyagrahis, would once again declare that they
would not move out, come what may, unless, they
get a better life and the promised land to live
on and that they would not approve of even an
inch of construction beyond 122mts. The adivasis
of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and
the farmers and others from Nimad in the plains
would also come together, to put forth their
views and vision. Supporters from various
people's organizations, especially the people
affected by the construction of ill-planned dams
and unjust development projects in other areas,
and from different states and cities would be
with us on this day of inauguration and
thereafter.

You are earnestly invited to express solidarity
and join the struggle at this crucial point of
time. We would be happy even if you make it for a
day and return the same night from Vadodara
(Baroda). We would be happier if you stay on the
banks of the Narmada for at least one or two more
days to have a glimpse of the various regions and
get acquainted with the latest situation and the
struggle.

HOPING TO RECEIVE A WORD OF CONFIRMATION AT THE
EARLIEST AND ALSO YOUR ITINERARY.

TRAVEL RELATED DETAILS:
. Please reach Badwani on the 10th or
Baroda by 11th early morning. You can come via
Dhule, Khandwa, Badwani or Indore.
. Vehicles will start from Badwani in the
very early hours of 11th morning and from Baroda
by 7:30 a.m. on the 11th. Depending on the
number of persons coming via Dhule or Indore
vehicles may be arranged from those two
centers as well.
. Please bring with you, light baggage with
rain coats, torch, light shoes and light bed
sheets, with medicines and biscuits/fruits, as
per need. We would of course be providing the
transport including boat, food and the minimum
possible arrangements in the difficult
circumstances, faced by the people.
Contributions are most welcome.
. Please let us know if you would stay back
on the 11th night and till when. While some will
be helped to return to Baroda on the same night,
the others can return to Baroda, visiting the
resettlement sites of Gujarat on the 12th, or to
Badwani or beyond (Indore or Dhule) on the 12th
or 13th as per your convenience. There will be no
long walks involved, while a mix of private
(maximum) and some public transport in groups
will have to be resorted to.

A WORKSHOP ON THE IMPACT OF THE 1947 PARTITION ON
THE CLASSICAL MUSIC OF SOUTH ASIA
22 and 23 August 2008, New Delhi

Dear friends,
Asian Scholarship Foundation, Bangkok, and Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi, invite scholars,
musicians, students and enthusiasts of Hindustani
classical music to participate and contribute to
an 2-day workshop of dialogue and music-making
where we expect to have several musicians and
scholars from India, Pakistan and (hopefully)
Bangladesh. If you have been involved in a unique
research or documentation about the development
of classical music in the post-1947 South Asia,
and would like to share your work or findings
with others, kindly send us the details. Or if
you are simply interested in this theme, you are
welcome to join us in August in an informal
discussion.

The idea for this workshop evolved out of a
larger research and documentation work carried
out by the Delhi-based filmmaker and researcher,
Yousuf Saeed, who spent a few months in Pakistan
in 2005 for a fellowship on the music of South
Asia. Yousuf's work culminated in a research
paper as well as a feature-length documentary
film Khayal Darpan that has been widely screened,
initiating a dialogue about concerns such as the
survival of classical music and national identity
in South Asia. The August workshop is part of a
series of such dialogues which would be carried
out in different parts of South Asia. We hope to
bring together scholars, musicians, historians,
and students of music and cultural studies in an
informal setting to reflect upon the various
issues in the study of music emerging in the
context of modernity. Some of the following
themes or panels would form a part of this
workshop:

1. Cultural identity and the making of nations
2. Partition and the music gharana narratives
3. Traditional knowledge-transmiss ion affected by the border
4. Between popular and elite: Music adapting to the changing audience

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